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If you have published a book within the past six months or have one coming out in the near future, please e-mail the editor a high-resolution JPEG of the cover, along with a 50-word-or-less description of the book and its publication date. magazine@ trinity.utoronto.ca

Detail of cover art from “Desolation Sound” by Marion Jensen ’67

JAMES BACQUE ’52Spirit Builders: Charles Catto, Frontiers Foundation and the Struggle to End Indigenous Poverty tells the story of indigenous peoples restoring their shattered communities in Canada in cooperation with Frontiers Foundation. Starting in 1954, the passionate, inventive Charles Catto began rejuvenating the friendship that originally united the indigenous people of Turtle Island (North America) with the European fur traders. His Frontiers Foundation, a co-operative movement with international and indigenous volunteers, built over 2,000 houses, community buildings and schools as it helped to solve Canada’s “White Problem.” (Rocky Mountain Books)

LESLIE A.K. JAMES ’65The Church of St George the Martyr, Penang: A Bicentenary Guide to the Memorials and Historical Artefactsexplores the history of the oldest Anglican church in Southeast Asia. Constructed in 1817-18 by the East India Company, the church was consecrated in 1819 by the Bishop of Calcutta, the first Anglican bishop in Asia. The author traces the history of this beautiful church through the stories behind its memorials and artefacts, from its beginnings as a colonial church to its role as a church serving modern Malaysian Anglicans and its designation in 2007 as a Malaysian national heritage site. (Areca Books)

MARION C. (CHAMPLIN) JENSEN ’67Desolation Sound explores the process of recovering from loss. In the aftermath of a death, Ann Patterson’s family is becoming unglued. The hot-tempered librarian splurges on a trip to Desolation Sound to save her family, but the trip turns out far different from her expectations. With the help of a ghostly adviser, Ann must face her own short- comings and get a grip on the reality of her life. (Friesen Press)

CHRIS MCNAUGHT ’68The Linnet follows Nina Vassileva, a victim of sex trafficking, as she returns to Ukraine as an MI6 asset to monitor ex-KGB mafia, corrupt kleptocrats, and the long shadow of Moscow. Though larded with historical events— Russian revolution, Holodomor, Holocaust, the Gulag and the Second World War—The Linnet is very much a tale of the here and now in the fragile “new” republic. (Vanguard Press)

BRIAN METCALFE ’63
Metcalfe’s first book, Coming Home Alone is a moving and sometimes hilarious tale of a young soldier’s return after the Second World War to domestic life in small-town Ontario. (Inglewood Press)

GILLIAN O’REILLY ’78
The revised and updated edition of The Great Number Rumble: A Story of Math in Surprising Places, co-written with Cora Lee and illustrated by Lil Crump, explores the weird, the cool and the fun in mathematics. For nine-to-12-year-olds, this book uses photographs, illustrations, sidebars, biographies of mathematicians, and DIY activities to highlight the surprising ways math is integral to our lives. (Annick Press)

DAVID PAUWELS ’94Who Iced The Snowman? A Cisco Maloney Mystery opens on Christmas Eve, as private eye Cisco Maloney and his sidekick Carmine investigate the suspicious death of Plotzky the Snowman, famed children’s entertainer. From Cupid to Santa Claus to the Easter Bunny, everyone’s got a motive, everyone’s a suspect. But only one of them knows who iced the snowman. (Cozy Cat Press)

GERALD ROBINSON (DIVINITY ADJUNCT PROFESSOR)Theology for Atheists is a joyful romp in the fields of the Lord. It opens up the possibility for atheists to join in the celebrations of a religious community; to share in their rituals and devotions without having to adopt their beliefs. Here they can join with other atheists who are already there—and the church needs them, the author asserts, because it is the atheists who hold the future of the church and the survival of the planet in their hands. The book creates a common ground for atheists and people of faith by offering secular explanations for sacred mysteries and miracles, while revering their value as myths. It provides cogent answers to the three cosmic FAQs: Where do we come from? Why are we here? and Where are we going? (Nisbet House)

KATE WATERSTON ’05 with ELIZABETH WATERSTON ’44, DAN WATERSTON ’73, and JANE WATERSTON ’74Readying Rilla: L.M. Montgomery’s Reworking of Rilla of Ingleside was started by L.M. Montgomery expert Kate Waterston before her death and finished by her grandmother, aunt and uncle in her honour. Montgomery’s classic novel was set during the First World War. Her story of Canadians struggling to “keep the home fires burning” remains deeply moving. She wrote the novel over a period of two years, keeping detailed notes along the way, which added textual flavour, improving the novel’s realism, emotional depth, and humour. Montgomery’s handwritten manuscript has been painstakingly rendered in a readable format. (Rock’s Mills Press)